NEWTON TOWNSHIP — A Cleveland-based waste management and renewable energy company could break ground in the coming weeks here on an $8 million biomass facility.

Schmack BioEnergy plans to develop an anaerobic digester operation on a portion of the former Columbia Portland Cement property off of U.S. 22 between White Cottage and East Fultonham.

Caroline Henry, marketing manager for Schmack, said a date has not been set for the groundbreaking.

The company received a $500,000 grant and $1 million loan commitment from the U.S. Department of Agriculture last summer to be used toward the Zanesville project.

According to plans filed and approved by the Mid-East Ohio Building Department, Schmack will be issued eight permits for the operation, which is designed to accept municipal waste products that would usually be incinerated or hauled to landfills. 

Anaerobic digestion is a natural process where microorganisms break down organic waste materials (biomass) in the absence of oxygen. The biosolids are extracted from the waste and the resulting biogas can be used for power generation via electric or natural gas, and could also be used to make compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel for vehicles.

Remaining liquid can be used as a fertilizer and solids can be used for animal bedding or compost material, Henry said.

She said the facility would accept municipal waste, food waste and fats, oils and grease (FOG).

"This is part of the state's alternative energy plans and it's an absolutely fantastic project for southeast Ohio and the Muskingum County area," added Jerry Nolder, executive director of the Zanesville-Muskingum County Port Authority.

The tanks or containers for the biogas, solids and liquid as well as the digester, generator and pump-out station or hauling hookup comprise 7,319-square-feet.

The property is about 163 acres, but Schmack will use only a small portion of ground just off an access road across from the eastern junction of Old Town Road.

"That's the nice thing, that it doesn't take up a lot of space," Henry said.

Schmack has established 263 plants, mainly in Europe, and has 81 facilities under construction or planning.

Here in Ohio, the firm is developing a laboratory and engineering facility in conjunction with The Ohio State University's Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) campus located in Wooster.

The OARDC will be Schmack's "flagship" operation here in the states, where new features will be tested before becoming a part of Schmack's digester facility design as processes are improved, Henry said.

In addition, there is a working facility in Akron and a $10 million operation planned for Columbus.

The Akron system went online in December 2007 and processes a third of the sludge going through that city's wastewater facility. The captured gas converted to electricity allowed the city to save about 15 percent on the power bill for the plant, according to the Associated Press.

Contact reporter Brian Gadd at bgadd@nncogannett.com or 740-450-6752